A crooked letting agent who defrauded 31 people out of a total of £68,000 has been ordered to hand over his realisable assets which have turned out to be worth less than £3,000, a Proceeds of Crime hearing was told.

The court accepted that Roy Jackson had benefited from his crime to the tune of £49,544.

However, Ipswich Crown Court heard that only £2,964 can be clawed back from him.

Jackson must pay the money by April 30 or serve an extra six weeks in jail, Judge David Goodin ruled.

Roy Jackson was jailed for 20 months last November when the court heard – falsely – that Jackson was a member of ARLA.

That claim, ARLA said, was wholly wrong.

Jackson ran Suffolk Lettings in Ipswich. It closed suddenly in early 2013, with Jackson himself appearing to vanish into thin air for the next 18 months.

In fact, as a police investigation got under way, he went on to work for two more entirely unsuspecting agents – Bairstow Eves, part of Countrywide, followed by Martyn Gerrard in London.

Jackson was still working for Martyn Gerrard – whose head, Simon, is currently president of the NAEA – when he went on holiday to Ibiza and was arrested at Stansted Airport.

The firm believed he was still on holiday when in reality he was on remand in jail.

After his sentencing, Det Con Donna Whelan-Smith said: “Mr Jackson had a clear intention to defraud and lie to his clients, some of whom were retired landlords whose livelihoods depended on the rental incomes that were stolen by him.

“He had no regard or sympathy for any of the victims.”